19 with Low-Average Testosterone


Hello people,
I’ve been worrying about my testosterone levels for a long time now and my doctor says I’m fine but I really don’t believe him at all. First I’ll try to explain something more about my case:

-age
19 years old.

-height
6’3"

-waist
31 inch

-weight
175 lbs

-describe body and facial hair
I always had a lack of hair under my armpits and I was worrying about it since I was like 16 years old. Eventually I did get a bit of armpit hair but it’s not that much now. My chest hair/belly hair is the same. It’s there but very very thin. I have beard growth on my sideburn, mustache and under the chin. I shave about once a week so yes I have beard growth, but it’s very thin and it’s almost like there are bald spots in it. The weirdest thing is that my sideburn haven’t improved since I was about 16 years old or something. My facial hair now grows on more places than when I was 16 but the thickness hasn’t improved much.

-describe where you carry fat and how changed
I don’t really know where I carry the most fat. I’m just skinny and soft overall. I know it’s nearly impossible for me to get a sixpack so I probably carry fat on my belly, but I also have a big round ass so there must be fat on my upper legs/butt area too.

-health conditions, symptoms [history]
Ever since I’m in puberty I’ve had weird symtomps like tiredness, Inability to build muscle mass, lack of concentration, lack of life, depression, bad memory, difficulty peeing (especially when tired I leak a lot after peeing), irritability, mood swings, lower back pain, a feeling of weakness overall, diarrhia in the morning (escpecially when tired), cold sweats (especially when tired). Most of these symptoms are very subtle and they come and go. I really feel like people around me think I’m just “overreacting” or something.

-Rx and OTC drugs, any hair loss drugs or prostate drugs ever
No, never.

-lab results with ranges
I don’t have all the lab results yet but I will get them. I finally convinced my doctor to send me to an endocrinlogist so when I’ve been there I have all the results. (Maybe I should just wait for the results to come back, but I just CAN’T stop worrying about this subject so that’s why I’m asking you guys first).
I DO have total testosterone levels:
First time it was 16,6 nmol/l (that would be 478 ng/dl)
and the second time it was 17 nmol/l (490 ng/dl)

I don’t remember the thyroid levels anymore, but the doctor said they where a little bit lower than normal so he put me on pills to raise the level. After I took the pills for a while my new test results came back at a normal level, but I still felt like shit (no improvement at all) so I stopped using these pills.

-describe diet [some create substantial damage with starvation diets]
8:00
2 peanut butter sandwiches
300 ml cornflakes
1 glass of orange juice

11:00
2 sandwiches with meat (mostly cow or chicken)
1 glass of chocolatemilk

14:00
4 sanwiches with mear
1 glass of chocolatemilk

17:00
Depens on what my mom cooks for me. If we eat potatoes with beans I often eat like 5 potatoes, a chickenleg and 4 big spoons full of beans I guess.

20:00
250 gram of curd (high protein, low fat)
1 boiled egg (I eat the whole egg, not just the white)
1 glass of chocolate milk

-describe training [some ruin there hormones by over training]
stronglifts 5x5 (heavy weights, compounds, 5 sets of 5 reps)

-testes ache, ever, with a fever?
Yes, I do feel a dull pain in my testes sometimes, but not that often.

-how have morning wood and nocturnal erections changed
I have a high libido and no problem getting erections at all, but I don’t get morning wood ever. I also feel like I have high libido, but when I’m with a girl I’m so anxious that I don’t even want sex anymore.

So this is it… I’ll also upload a photo of my body, because I really feel like I have a weird hourglass figure. It’s like my ass grew more in puberty than my shoulders.

We need your labs with ranges, especially thyroid. TSH, fT3 and fT4 would be good. [T3 and T4 are not very useful]. Also need fasting cholesterol [in case too low], CBC, liver AST/ALT, LH/FSH, fasting glucose, LH/FSH, E2, prolactin.

Read the thyroid basics sticky

  • post history of using iodized salt or vitamins that list iodine, hopefully you use and cook with iodized salt
  • post your oral waking and mid afternoon body temperatures ← important

Drop the chocolate milk and develop different tastes. Cereals + bread with OJ or chocolate milk may be causing high serum glucose levels. Do not eat white bread, should be whole grain. Too many useless carbs! Your diet is a highway to obesity and diabetes.

Never take “normal” from your doc. Get the numbers and do your own research. We are glad to help!

I’m going to an endocrinlogist in 2 weeks and I’ll ask him to test all the hormones you mentioned. The reason I drink so many chocolate milk is because I’m having a lot of trouble gaining mass and people on a different bodybuiler’s site told me to drink more of it to get enough calories to grow. I always eat whole grain bread though and all the milk/chocolate milk I use is with less fat than regular milk. I’ll post the temperature soon and when I’ll get my other lab results back I’ll post them too.

I seriously doubt you have an issue with T. I can 100% tell you an endo is not going to put you on hormone replacement. Endos are a total waste of time. Your body looks totally normal for a 19 year old. Not everyone is meant to be a body builder. Relax and be glad you’re a healthy guy.

Also don’t tell the doc about you anxiety or anything. You’re human. Live with it or he’ll put you on some horrible med that will totally screw you up.

Maybe you’re right about the body brentf13, but what about the loss of morning wood?